Hazard's penalty kick sends Anderlecht to semifinals
FRIDAY, 16 JANUARY 2026, 20:35 - lajoya
GAMES Anderlecht has qualified for the semifinals of the Belgian Cup. It defeated Gent with a penalty kick goal from Thorgan Hazard. In the final minute, there was still some nervousness when Lopes put the ball in the goal, but fortunately, the VAR had noticed Gent striker Dean's handball.
Anderlecht showed from the outset that it was eager to secure a place in the semifinals. Bertaccini was denied twice by goalkeeper Roef. On the second attempt, he could have gone down earlier in the action after a tap from De Vlieger, but the striker stayed on his feet and De Vlieger was spared a red card. Gent tried its luck with a few shots from distance.
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Continue reading Shortly before the half-hour mark, Araujo kicked Degreef's heel: penalty. Hazard did not fail: 1-0. After that, Skoras, Degreef, and Bertaccini had their chances, but without success. 1-0 at halftime.
The second half started cautiously, until suddenly both Skoras and Saliba hit the post. A little later, Anderlecht got away with it when Kana missed his back pass and Skoras pulled him down. To be fair, only a red card was correct here.
There were no more big chances. In the last of six minutes of added time, Ghent suddenly scored the equalizer. This was followed by a VAR intervention that lasted several minutes. Had striker Dean touched the ball with his hand? Yes, ruled VAR and referee Laforge. Anderlecht escaped and advanced to the semifinals.
Score: 1-0 Goal(s): 27' Hazard (1-0, pen.)
Anderlecht: Coosemans, Sardella, Kana (77' Ilic), Hey, Augustinsson, Saliba, De Cat, Degreef (57' Verschaeren), Hazard, Angulo, Bertaccini (86' Cvetkovic) AA Gent: Roef, Van Der Heyden (88' Omgba), Paskotsi (88' Kotto), Volckaert, Araujo, De Vlieger (82' Dean), Ito (75' Lopes), Kadri, Skoras, Goore (75' Sonko), Kanga
Yellow cards: 62' Kana, 68' Ito, 72' Angulo, 81' Hey Red card: 90+12' Angulo (2 x yellow)
